The Episcopal Church describes itself as being "Protestant, yet Catholic". In 2010, it had 2,125,012 baptized members, 1,951,907 of them in the U.S., making it the nation's 14th largest denomination. The church is also known as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (PECUSA or ECUSA).

The church was organized after the American Revolution, when it separated from the Church of England whose clergy are required to swear allegiance to the British monarch as Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and became the first Anglican Province outside the British Isles.

The Episcopal Church was active in the Social Gospel movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Since the 1960s and 1970s, it has opposed the death penalty and supported the civil rights movement and affirmative action. Some of its leaders and priests marched with civil rights demonstrators. Today the Church calls for the full civil equality of gay and lesbian people, and the church's General Convention has passed resolutions that allow for same-sex marriages in states in which it is legal. The convention also approved an official liturgy to bless such unions. On the question of abortion, the church has adopted a "nuanced approach".

The Episcopal Church ordains women to the priesthood as well as the diaconate and the episcopate. The current Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church is Katharine Jefferts Schori, the first female primate in the Anglican Communion.

The Diocese of Massachusetts currently has two Bishops, Bishop Tom Shaw and Bishop Gail Harris. Our Bishops are the Priests for the Priests. This means that the Bishops are the shepherds for the priests in the diocese and the parishes.